Sustaining Nature, Supporting Health
The Stanford Human and Planetary Health Initiative advances solutions that improve both health and sustainability.
For too long, we have treated nature as an inexhaustible resource. As a result, humanity faces a health crisis of planetary dimensions. Unsustainable food systems, global warming, natural disasters, pollution, and biodiversity loss are impacting our lives and the natural systems that we depend on. Those least responsible for these crises are hit worst and first.
Stanford’s Human and Planetary Health Initiative is tackling these threats by seeking solutions that sustain nature and support human health.
Bringing together environmental science, medicine, public health, law, and other disciplines, the Initiative is driving breakthroughs that change policy and business practices, and is preparing the next generation of leaders to accelerate this critical work.
Recent News
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U.S. tropical cyclones, including hurricanes, indirectly cause thousands of deaths for nearly 15 years after a storm. Understanding why could help minimize future deaths from hazards fueled by climate change.
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1.5 million people die from lead exposure a year. This new global partnership could change that.
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Half of children in low- and middle-income countries have concerning levels of lead in their blood. Now, UNICEF and USAID are taking on the issue with a $150 million global initiative.
Average # of Stanford research projects on HPH topics since 2021 (per year)
Total # of Stanford publications on HPH topics since 2021
Average # of HPH courses offered since 2021 (per year)
HPH postdoctoral fellows since 2020
HPH early career research grants since 2022
HPH seed grants to interdisciplinary research teams since 2017
Explore our Focus Areas
The Human and Planetary Health Initiative aims to support all research, education, and impact at Stanford that connects human health with the environment. We have identified four main themes where this work typically happens, with additional areas continually emerging.
Climate and Health
Promoting the health of vulnerable populations by exploring climate change mitigation and adaptation solutions, addressing issues that arise from extreme weather, wildfires, natural disasters, extreme heat, eco-anxiety, displacement, and other climate-related impacts.
Image credit: Moniruzzaman Sazal / Climate Visuals Countdown
Pollution and Health
Understanding and reducing the harm from pollution on the health of humans and the environment by redesigning business models and processes to reduce air, ocean, and land pollution, support health, and build more resilient and equitable economies.
Image credit: Abir Abdullah / Climate Visuals Countdown
Disease Ecology in a Changing World
Investigating the ecological, environmental and socioeconomic determinants of diseases transmitted through the environment, projecting their future distributions under scenarios of climate change, and developing ecological solutions to improve human health and protect the health of the environment that underpins it.
Image credit: Anthony Ochieng / Climate Visuals Countdown
Food Systems, Health and the Environment
Generating knowledge to develop a food system that provides healthy affordable human nutrition while supporting thriving biodiverse terrestrial and aquatic environments, and reduces carbon emissions from the agricultural sector.
Image credit: Jonathan Torgovnik/Getty Images/Images of Empowerment